I condemn the horrific attack on the man in Belfast. I hope he recovers and I send my solidarity and hope the perpetrator is brought to justice. However, I also want to condemn the horrific violence that is being wreaked in the North since that attack. It is straight from the far-right playbook to use an horrific tragedy or incident when it is a person of colour who is the suspect in a violent assault and to implement its precooked plan of racist and chaotic destruction. People are being stopped and questioned about their skin colour, nationality and race. Homes have been destroyed. Families who have been in the North for decades have been burnt out or attacked in their homes. Businesses have been set alight. Outside actors like Farage and Musk are intervening and actively whipping up violence as well. There has also been an element of hand-wringing from some politicians in the North who have been involved in stirring up racism themselves in the past. I commend the activist groups that have intervened and shown that type of solidarity. The majority of working class people do not want the North to unfold into a racist hellhole.

Sentiment score: -0.31